Burrell girls knock off nemesis Freeport to reach PIAA soccer championship game

By: Michael Love
Tuesday, November 11, 2025 | 9:45 PM

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Fourth time’s the charm?

The Burrell girls soccer team hoped so.

But Freeport wanted to get out the brooms.

The section rival Bucs and Yellowjackets met for the fourth time this season Tuesday evening in a PIAA Class 2A semifinal in frigid temperatures at Fox Chapel.

Freeport won the first three, including the WPIAL title game Nov. 1 at Highmark Stadium.

But Burrell had the last laugh.

Juniors Katie Koehler and Makiah Buchak scored first-half goals for the Bucs, and the Burrell defense held firm over the final 40 minutes to protect a one-goal halftime lead in a 2-1 victory.

“When we went into the locker room at halftime, our energy was so high and we had confidence we were going to win this game,” said Buchak, whose goal, which gave the Bucs the lead for good with 10 minutes, 28 seconds left in the first half, was her team-leading ninth of the season. “We kept up that energy in the second half. It was an awesome feeling as we all worked as a whole offensively and defensively to keep them from getting that tying goal. We stayed composed, and that’s what helped us the most.

“I am in shock. We’re going to play for a state title. I am so happy I get to do it with this group of girls.”

Burrell, which improved to 15-7-2, defeated the District 10 champion, the District 5 champ and now the WPIAL champion on its way to the first PIAA title game in program history.

“It is hard to put into words what this means for everybody,” Burrell coach Frank Nesko said. “I don’t know if it is a combination of just shock and pride. The girls just battled the whole game. I know I’ve said it many times before, but Freeport is just a fantastic team. Either one of us would be deserving of this trip, but we were able to find a way. It was just another very well-played game between two teams who you know are going to play incredible soccer against each other.”

Burrell, which snapped a seven-game losing streak to Freeport dating to October 2022, will take on District 12 champion Archbishop Wood (14-6-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at Northeastern York High School. Archbishop Wood defeated District 11 champion Northwestern Lehigh (26-1) on penalty kicks Tuesday in the other Class 2A semifinal.

“I am just so proud of this group, knowing the work they put in all the way back in the summer, from June 1 on,” Nesko said. “This is five months in the making, and for it to come to fruition, it is indescribable.

Freeport’s championship season fell agonizingly short of what would’ve been its first trip to the PIAA final. The Yellowjackets (21-2) had won 20 games in a row before Tuesday’s loss.

“I am just so proud of the girls and the way they fought tonight,” Freeport coach Steve Kukic said. “It just didn’t go our way today. We could’ve easily won that game. But we gave up a corner and there was a misplay by us in the back, and they capitalized. We just couldn’t come back from it. We had opportunities in the second half but were always just an inch away or a step away. But credit Burrell for doing what they needed to do to finish off their win.

“Both teams were ready for this game and ready to go after it for 80 minutes or longer.”

Junior Cam Woods, who tallied Freeport’s goal in the first half to give her a team-best 26 for the season, put two shots on goal in the early minutes of the second half, but both were corralled by Burrell junior keeper Leah Waldsmith to preserve Burrell’s one-goal advantage.

Bucs sophomore Allie McMahon recorded a dangerous shot with 4:25 left in regulation. Freeport senior keeper Alyssa Alcorn was there to deflect the ball away from the goal. It went over the end line for a Burrell corner as it worked to keep possession deep in Freeport’s end of the field.

The Yellowjackets didn’t give up the fight in their desperate attempt to tie the score and gained two corner kicks 10 seconds apart with about three minutes remaining. The second attempt saw Waldsmith suffocate the ball, which had bounced around in the scrum of players in front of Bucs goal mouth.

Burrell then worked the ball back down the field and ran the final two minutes off the clock.

“We talked to the girls at halftime and said that if they are ever going to play a great 40 minutes in their lives, have it be this 40 and give everything they have,” Nesko said. “You saw that on display: the heart, the desire, the wanting it. Defense is who we are. We only conceded more than one goal three times this season. We defend and are opportunistic.”

Freeport finished with a 13-7 shot advantage and a 9-3 edge in shots on goal. Waldsmith made eight saves.

Temperatures dropped to the mid 30s at kickoff as both teams tried to keep warm before the opening whistle.

The back and forth early was hot as the Bucs and Yellowjackets worked to get the possession advantage.

A run by Buchak was defended over the end line ,creating a corner kick for the Bucs in the sixth minute.

The corner was fruitful as junior Eva Wilson delivered the ball into the box, and Koehler headed it past Alcorn for a 1-0 lead.

The Bucs’ advantage didn’t last long — 15 seconds in fact — as Wood got free and took a shot from about 20 yards. Waldsmith lost her footing as she tried to defend the shot, and the ball made it into the back of the Burrell net.

Buchak was dangerous several times in the first half, and her efforts paid off in the box in the 29th minute as she took a feed from freshman Kendall Coury and beat Alcorn for a 2-1 Bucs lead.

Waldsmith then deflected a dangerous attempt from Woods at the 7:15 mark to keep Burrell in the lead.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Burrell, Freeport